It's December. Big Buck Tactics?

bowhuntingrook

Old Mossy Horns
Food.....and get to those areas that are least pressured. Looks like cold temps next week, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.
 
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HorNhnTr

Twelve Pointer
Find the food or put of a lot of food. Deer... bucks especially have to try n gain back what they've lost these last 4 weeks. Cold temps will make them eat more and more often. This can be the best time to hunt if it gets cold enough.
 

beard&bow

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
See one... Lol. I've hunted 3 or 4 times on the land we bought back in August. Illness, school, and lack of free time really put a hurting on this season. Using this year as more of a pressure/food/time gauge. That being said, I'll have the opportunity to hunt everyday the last 2.5 weeks of December. Doubt I will, but hope I'm feeling up to making the choice, instead of circumstances choosing for me.
 

ncstatehunter

Twelve Pointer
Thickest, nastiest stuff you can find and food. An overlooked or low pressure spot coupled with those two things and you'll have your best chance. For me on public land, mornings = clearcut or open swamp/marsh and evenings = woods.
 
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jug

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I will tell you what I do and have done that has been quite successful. I don't hunt an area till I know the conditions is right. I wait for the new moon phase. Keep out the corn but stay out of the area. Keep the pressure off and my scent out of the area as much as possible. Go in there when things are right. I have killed a Big 8 on Dec 27, 2001 up in Northampton County doing this.
Killed a big tall 6 on Dec. 21, 2006. A tall 8 on December 28, 2008. Missed one on Dec 26 2001. My brother missed a big one 2 years ago on my stand here in Harnett county on December 19.
I shot that big 8 up in Rockingham on December 3 doing this. Some of our best land to hunt in December up in Northampton county was the land that we didn't hunt at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Christmas week that property was guaranteed money that one of us was going to get a shot at a decent buck.
 
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KTMan

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
I leave a couple of stands that do not getting hunted until December. Both are located in the middle of cutovers with about 1/4 acre foot plots located in middle of them. Both are on same 125 acre farm that gets hunted open week of ml and not again until middle of dec.
 

aya28ga

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Food sources & thick cover. About this time of the season I'll put out some corn in a thick spot on the property that I haven't previously hunted too much.

For me, finding a buck that hasn't been pressured is problematic at this point in the season because of the dog-hunting activity & other stand hunters surrounding my land, but I try to use that to my advantage. If the dogs run across my property while I'm sitting I don't get too upset; you never know when they'll force a good buck to move and try to sneak out of the area, causing him to step in front of your rifle......
 

dstubbsunc

Eight Pointer
I will tell you what I do and have done that has been quite successful. I don't hunt an area till I know the conditions is right. I wait for the new moon phase. Keep out the corn but stay out of the area. Keep the pressure off and my scent out of the area as much as possible. Go in there when things are right. I have killed a Big 8 on Dec 27, 2001 up in Northampton County doing this.
Killed a big tall 6 on Dec. 21, 2006. A tall 8 on December 28, 2008. Missed one on Dec 26 2001. My brother missed a big one 2 years ago on my stand here in Harnett county on December 19.
I shot that big 8 up in Rockingham on December 3 doing this. Some of our best land to hunt in December up in Northampton county was the land that we didn't hunt at all between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Christmas week that property was guaranteed money that one of us was going to get a shot at a decent buck.

Like jug says here! Try to provide a solid food source corn food plot or whatever for a week or two after Thanksgiving don't pressure it and the bucks will sort of relax again almost like hunting early bow season like conditions again!
 
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ditchbank

Banned
The next week or so should be great the Does that were not bred should start to cycle again. Keep hunting does. And pinch points between two feeding sources.


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shadycove

Twelve Pointer
Time.....lots of time up a tree.
Get up early and stay till dark since they may move at any minute of the day, looking for food.
 

bryguy

Old Mossy Horns
I also think that the pressure slacks off some between now and Christmas. With holiday parties and family stuff going on, lots of guys just don't hunt that much and the deer relax some and will move earlier especially if it is cold. I have an entire farm I have not hunted yet this year, and it has some thick, nasty swampy areas on it that I will slip in and hunt over the next few weeks. Food and does are still the keys, bucks gotta try to recharge and they still got nookie on their mind also.
 

oldest school

Old Mossy Horns
i have two for consideration. two that have actually worked for me.
a. they may go back to where they started after the rut. the one that disappeared may return to his core area if he survived the rut. prime feed or bedding area may let you see him.

b. have a fantastic hunter take you and share his family's disneyland hunting.

b is by far the more reliable. :)
 

Banjo

Old Mossy Horns
Food source. Lot of spent energy chasing. Winters coming. They’ll be looking to pack on some pounds.


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DRS

Old Mossy Horns
Bucks still looking does here first couple weeks in December, here. Later this month I have seen many bucks return to their core area.
 

Eric Revo

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Corn close to a bedding area...corn, corn, corn and apples if you can find them. Don't let the corn run out and don't sit with the wind blowing into the bedding area and you are doing all you can for the SLOW month of December. Good luck, I'd rather be catching specks than deer hunting in later December for sure....lots more action.
 

30/06

Twelve Pointer
Find pockets that haven't been hunted much, food if possible, hope a young doe drags a big one by ya. We have TONS of food this year, going to be hard to predict where they'll show up. Pray for some COLD weather, like 20s and below where they have to eat!!!!!
 

Aaron H

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
Every year some big bucks fall in December- keep at it and hunt smart. Bucks have to eat and cold weather pushes them to feed. NEVER hunt a spot if the wind is wrong. Mature bucks are not so hard to kill if they don't know they are being hunted but if they get wise to you they are impossible to see.
 

Blades

Six Pointer
Corn and other food sources along travel corridors areas like others have said.

Over the past couple weeks my bucks on video are religiously there in the morning to reload on energy after night time doe searching. They seem a bit tired when they stroll up for a little crunch and munch. I’m on coyote patrol even more so now that the freezer is filled.
 

Hevi 13. Anson

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Every year some big bucks fall in December- keep at it and hunt smart. Bucks have to eat and cold weather pushes them to feed. NEVER hunt a spot if the wind is wrong. Mature bucks are not so hard to kill if they don't know they are being hunted but if they get wise to you they are impossible to see.

Exactly spot on. Change your habits isolate feeding to prevailing winds. Most people are done feeding come late Dec. Pile it on in just limited # of stands
 
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